NEVER FORGET that in an Ethics in Government Roundtable, the question to Mike Wallace was "if you KNEW that a platoon of the ENEMY was just over the hill ready to KILL American soldiers, would you WARN the American soldiers? Absolutely NOT! was his answer...I'M a JOURNALIST FIRST!! and Peter Jennings changed his answer and AGREED with Wallace. The Generals on the panel were STUNNED!

NBC's Tim Russert was passionate this morning on the Don Imus program in defending the right of reporters to wear such symbols and declaring that his patriotism trumped all that crap about the sacredness of journalists' independence.

Meaningless talk for a guy who doesn,t work for his competitor ABC. _ Tom

I understand the following quote is an official comment from your network:

"Especially in a time of national crisis, the most patriotic thing journalists can do is to remain as objective as possible," says spokesman Jeffrey Schneider. "That does not mean journalists are not patriots. All of us are at a time like this. But we cannot signal how we feel about a cause, even a justified and just cause, through some sort of outward symbol."

Your past actions belie this statement...you have signaled how you feel about causes that your on-air and editorial staff personally believe in. For you NOT to be able to distinguish between your own country and all the unique freedoms it provides YOU, versus the hate filled, anti-freedom, anti-women, anti-Christian, anti-capitalist, anti-democratic TERRORIST REGIMES, is phony and hypocritical AT BEST, and traitorous at worst.

My family does not watch ABC News or Entertainment...but we will get a list of ALL of your major sponsors and begin to BOYCOTT them immediately...and we will embark on our own campaign to spread that word.

We are not alone...and all it takes is a little coordinated efforts to mobilize many thousands of people.

GOOD LUCK!

__________________

Everybody who believes strongly about this should do SOMETHING...we may never have a better chance to rally citizens (even some sheeple) against the networks.

Tony Snow is sickening!! He was trying to play "Gotcha" with Condy Rice!! I couldn't believe how RUDE...RUDE....RUDE he was!! He treats the people on the left with decoru, and respect. I canNOT figure him out...maybe all the PINK is not gone...he was a Proud Lefty he admits...and he laughs in all the wrong places. Nice but RUDE to people on the right. WAKE UP TONY!!!

"Especially in a time of national crisis, the most patriotic thing journalists can do is to remain as objective as possible,"

I agree with that statement ... even as I question the media's reasons for adopting this policy.

"Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant," so said James Madison. Madison also observed that war is the greatest threat to freedom. The reason is quite simple. A crisis is a time when people trust their government the most ... and when corrupt politicians grab for more power - presumably because no one is looking - and Americans are being patriotic to "do whatever is necessary" to conquer crisis X.

As such, we need someone or something that can sort of stand outside the crisis and critique it. Unfortunately, in America, that WOULD NOT be the "mainstream" media. I think it's laughable that the media think they can honestly play this role.

If you want a case history of what happens when everyone (including the media) become an amen corner for government, look no further than FDR's New (Raw) Deal. There were critics, to be sure. But they were few and far between. Imagine if the media actually did its job then. Things could have been different.

I thought Tim Russert was great this morning. He made some excellent points. I wish someone more HTML-gifted than I would post the Imus transcript, so that those who are critiquing something they didn't watch could find out for themselves how clear he was about his loyalty to America.

=================== The Washington Post today noted that ABC journalists are barred from wearing lapel flags. "Especially in a time of national crisis, the most patriotic thing journalists can do is to remain as objective as possible," says spokesman Jeffrey Schneider. "That does not mean journalists are not patriots. All of us are at a time like this. But we cannot signal how we feel about a cause, even a justified and just cause, through some sort of outward symbol."

Why are you changing positions at this date? And when did you begin favoring objectivity in the news? I have never had any trouble detecting your network journalists' negative signals about their views and feelings about the Republican party, and in particular, President Bush.

Perhaps your sponsors need to know that you HAVE been disclosing your biases, over and over again, you suddenly decided to stop short of showing patriotism. One wonders just why patriotism and loyalty to our country is a bad thing at ABC....

Hello? It's a quotation from an ABC executive published in today's Washington Post. No further confirmation needed.

Hello!!!

1 - It is NORMAL custom to get sources from more than one place, before considering something valid. 2 - Perhaps the WP is a valid source for you, but it's a proven questionable one for me. 3 - When someone who works at ABC says that this is not true, I tend to erase any so called single source that says otherwise ... 4 - Ever since 9/11, there have been dozens of mis-truths being stated as truth ....

Now, go back to your paper and believe everything you read ..... sheesh, and we say the liberals are mis-informed!

Just to back you up: I saw this exchange on the MEU station in Jacksonville , Alabama in the 1980's. (I have forgotten what "MEU" means.) To say the least, I was shocked that someone who owes his present status to the US Constitution and to the way we "do things" here, would make such a stupid, unthinking statement.

To Dan Rather's credit, I heard Rather a couple of years later on CSPAN, during a speech he made to journalism students at Sam Houston State University (Rather's alma mater), completely and undeniably refute what Mike Wallace said. To be sure he didn't mention Wallace, but Rather did refute what Wallace said.

This is exactly why the military must maintain a news blackout when it comes to the campaign against terrorism. Today's elite media plays the game "we got it first" all the time. They can't wait to spill the beans. So what if American lives are at stake. Just ask Mike Wallace. If it is more important to the media to appear unbiased (what a joke) than to be patriotic Americans - then, by God, Bush and company should tell them nothing.

I am completely apalled by ABC's decision to not allow their journalists to wear flags. You say your trying NOT to be biased or one-sided. YOU are the AMERICAN Broadcasting Company? You are not acting like Americans. Your Politically Incorrect show is bad enough for being anti-American. But I certainly did not expect the whole network to be like that. Especially Disney. You live in America with Americans and you report (mostly) America's news. You SHOULD show that you are with your country.

I will not watch your news anymore. I find it upsetting too, because Good Morning America was the best news show in the mornings. Oh well. I live in Alaska. We don't have a whole lot of people up here and most of us are very patriotic and love our country. Word spreads quickly up here. So much for the "A" in ABC.

I agree that a journalist should be totally objective and you and I agree on many points.

My objection comes from not allowing an American citizen to simply acknowledge his citizenship.

What would be the harm of wearing a small pin in solidarity to your fellow citizens? Would not wearing a flag pin really make you more objective? Or is that some sort of ideal the people simply want to believe?

Jennings may have sincerely believed he was creating an objective telecast but in a time of crisis, when unitiy is needed, wearing a small piece of pride on your chest is a individual gesture of recognition that we are one nation.

I think Jennings over reacted (for what he believed was the right reason.)

That is the defining characteristic of freedom and private ownership. I can change my home's decor all I want, even in time of war.

Now, if my motif included the insignias of the enemy, and I telegraphed our military's movements, that would be another thing, but ABC is simply choosing not to fly the colors, and they should not be forced to... they SHOULD lose TONS of viewers who do care about their country, though.

Two sources? When you have a copy of the executive's memo? When you have an executive from ABC saying otherwise? When that exec is none other than Sean Hannity, sure thing.

Do you physically have the copy of this memo? Didn't think so.

That is funny. Real funny.

You have a real warped sense of humor, friend. But go ahead and "freep" away .... the left does it for less info, why shouldn't you?

Now go back to defending ABC and leave us adults alone.

Sheesh, and I thought all the a-holes were liberals ...

Since you so easily read into what other people post, it's easy to see that you think I am a fan of ABC. Just go back to preparing your "Freep" ... but do stay away from the keyboard until you learn NOT to read into things so easily ...

Please request your cable company to put Fox News on their line up. Keep in mind that the liberals at your cable company want nothing to do with Fox News.It could be a uphill battle. ABC is the worst liberal clap trap offender of them all. Boycot ABC> NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, THE WASHINGTON POST, THE NEW YORK TIMES, etc...We owe this to or country. Our national security is in the balance. Please boycot these media giants, it's your duty!!!

I recently saw Eric Alterman referred to as "probably the most hated person in all of journalism." He's angry and he's mean. Ignore him.

What you say may be true, but does that discount everything in the article? (I happen to enjoy reading another "most hated person in all of journalism," David Horowitz.) The networks are owned and run by some of the wealthiest individuals on the planet, so why exactly would they want to foment dissent and cause a left-ward shift to commie-pinkoism? Would higher taxes and Soviet-style profit sharing benefit them in any way? Please explain.

And I've never before heard the stuff about DeLay. I hope he sues the writer if it's not true. But I don't think he will sue. Just a hunch.

Getting back to this thread, I find the no-flag directive by ABC unusual, to say the least. But for the most part I don't detect any anti-American slant on the three major networks. They're not as rah-rah as Fox, certainly, but then I prefer my news without cheerleading. We can get enough of flags and fireworks and "God Bless America" in sports stadiums.

NO, McCarthy would like to askew the news to fit his view points. This is the point, the liberal media has been doing this for years. I'm sure you would like us to be quite. God forbid we get are word out! "Lets stamp out differing thought and get on the pc wagon.

I'm still here. Don't pull a democrat(shoving words in someones mouth and running). Please show me where I used the word "commie". It must be nice to be a Liberal, spew out whatever bs you want and you never need to back it up with fact.

"Especially in a time of national crisis, the most patriotic thing journalists can do is to remain as objective as possible,"

Does that mean, when things were going well, they weren't objective as possible? They're now admitting that they weren't objective before, because they didn't need to be patriotic?

Liberals have never believed in logic. All they believe is that they're entitled to say whatever they feel at the moment, without consequence. What they said or did even a few minutes earlier no longer exists. "Fairness" demands we judge them only on their currently stated intentions.

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